Love Them or Hate Them, NFL Celebrations Are Back, and Players Are Ecstatic

We are about to enter, or perhaps re-enter, an era in which the NFL stops taking itself so seriously. Where the commissioner isn't solely consumed with punishing players. Where its players can celebrate on the field. Where the league loosens its belt, puts its feet up on the couch and chills the hell out.

Earlier this week, the NFL decided to relax its restrictions on player celebrations, and the players love it. Not all of them, for sure, but most. Players have long felt the NFL was far too uptight about player celebrations and needed to relax the rules.

"I think guys will love it," said former running back Justin Forsett, who played in the NFL for nine years before retiring last year, to B/R. "I would expect them to be more creative and have more fun."

Then Forsett added, only half joking: "There will be more practice celebrations in the mirror and [during] practice."

Across the NFL, current and former players say the rule adaptation is a long time coming.

Terrell Owens, perhaps the greatest celebrant in league history, tweeted:

"It's amazing," Pittsburgh receiver Antonio Brown told reporters about the rule change after Steelers practice Wednesday.

Last year, after scoring a touchdown in Week 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington tight end Vernon Davis mimicked a basketball jump shot using the crossbar as his hoop. It led to a 15-yard penalty and a short kickoff for Philadelphia, which returned the kick for a touchdown. Davis was fined $12,000. If he did the same thing this fall, he wouldn't be penalized.

"Guys want to celebrate, they want to make it fun," Davis told Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post. "That's what this game is—it's all about having fun. Go out there, you don't want to be uptight. You want to have fun and do things within the realm of your team and be in compliance, but at the same time, you want to have fun. I think that's one thing we have to work on as players. We have to make sure that we're doing everything that we can do to make sure that we can keep it this way so that they won't come back and say, 'Hey, we're going to take it away from you guys again.' If we just work together and do things the right way, then we can keep it."

The NFL's new policy will allow players to use the ground in their celebrations, involve other players and use the football as a prop. The No Fun League is fun again.

This is long overdue, and the decision to change course isn't just practical. It's also highly tactical.

Throughout much of the Goodell era, the league has become far too enamored with punishment and dominance over its players. We saw this in the massive overreaction the NFL had to allegations of Tom Brady deflating footballs. It's also evident in how the league fines players if they wear the wrong socks or unlicensed hats. Players also have been fined for twerking or wearing the wrong color cleats. This left the NFL looking draconian and petty.

The league forgot that it didn't exist just to serve the fans, but also to promote the game's stars—the players. Not the commissioner. Not the owners. Not the coaches. The players.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

There are a number of fans (though not all) who want to see players shake their asses. Or use the football as a cellphone. Or dab. Or eat popcorn. Or do whatever the hell they want.

Sure, not everyone in the NFL agrees. With an incredible lack of self-awareness, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said he was unhappy with the changes.

"I'm not for that at all," Lewis told reporters. "We had a good standard, and the whole standard has always been, you want to teach people how to play the game the correct way and go about it the correct way, and that's not a very good example for young people.

"The rules were changed for a reason, and I thought we had a good outcome. Again, this is a team game, and ... I don't understand why we want to give in to individual celebrations."

Lewis' Bengals, of course, drafted running back Joe Mixon, who was videotaped punching a woman in the face while at Oklahoma. And they have long employed Adam "Pacman" Jones, who has had his share of legal troubles. What's a worse example for kids? Brown moving his hips or Mixon throwing hands?

Fred Vuich/Associated Press

There's another part of this that can't be ignored. It's the violence of football.

Some players have complained to me for years how if they're going to get their brains pulverized and bones broken, then at least let them celebrate the way they want to. They see it as a sort of release and a reminder that they aren't robots, but human beings playing an ugly game that can handicap them.

Sure, some of these celebrations will be ridiculous. Some will be absurd. And as Forsett said, you will see players almost rehearsing for them.

There will be media hot takes about how this will ruin the game, how players are punks who dance too much and how Bronko Nagurski would have never danced because he was a man's man and didn't need no damn dancing.

Will it be fun to watch?

Oh yeah.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @mikefreemanNFL.